Folding combination deck-chair and couch.



110.854.379. PATENTED MAY 21, v1907. H.0STBRBERG.

FOLDING COMBINATION DECK CHAIR AND COUCH.

APPLICATION FILED 1 313.28} 19m.-

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

s uormrs ETERS :0, WASHINGTON. n. c

PATENTED MAY 21, 1907.

R, OSTERBERG. FOLDING COMBINATION DECK CHAIR AND COUCH.

APPLIOATION FILED rmabzs. 1907.

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ROBERT OSTERBERG, OF NORWAY, MICHIGAN.

FOLDING COMBINATION DECK-CHAIR AND COUCH- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

. Application filed February 28, 1907. Serial No. 359,720.-

To (tZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT OSTERBERG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Norway, in the county of Dickinson and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Folding Combination Deck-Chair and Cot, of which the fol lowing 'is a specification.

This invention relates to folding chairs, cots and the like and the object of the invention is to provide a simplified and improved construction which involves but comparae tively little expense in its embodiment and provides a construction which may be folded into such compact form as to take up but very little space in a suitable hand-bag or carrying case.

I am aware that numerous forms of folding cots and chairs have heretofore been devised and I therefore do not lay any claim broadly to the combination of folding chair and cot, but, so far as I am aware, no combination of this kind has heretofore been provided which combines in one article the features of extreme simplicity, inexpensiveness, compactness with the fullness of serviceability of both cot and chair that my invention does.

With the above in view my invention consists in the novel construction and combina tion of parts hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the drawings and incorporated in the claims.

In the drawings--Figure 1 is an elevation showing a side view of my invention adjust ed into the form of a chair. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same structure adjusted to form a cot of full length with an extension for supporting a pillow, the dotted lines representing a pillow. Fig. 3 is an edge view of the compact bundle formed by folding together the parts shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Fig. 4 is a face view of the foot-end of the cot, or the front of the chair without the back. Fig. 5

' is a face view of the head or pillow end of the cot, and Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged detail views of parts broken away from the structure as a whole.

Referring in detail to the several views, as the bars or pieces and their joints or hinges are alike for both sides of the chair and cot I will first proceed to describe only that side which is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 and thus make clear the operation of my invention before describing the remaining details.

2 and 3 represent the legs or supports proper for the chair and couch, and said legs support 5 hinged at 6 to the leg 2.

are pivoted together at 4. The legs are held in their crossed position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or the forward end of the leg 3 supported on the lower end of the leg 2 by means of a To a hinge-member 7 on the upper end of the leg 2 are hinged two canvas covered backs or back-frames 8 and 9 which carry the canvas 10 consisting of one piece extending from the top of the frame 9 to the hinge 7 and thence to the top of the frame 8. To the frame 8, at 11 is hinged the upper end of a strut or backbrace 12 which consists of two parts 13 and 14 hinged together at 15. The parts 13 and 14 are alined to form a single brace for the chair shown in Fig. 1, and overlap each other partly as shown at 16. The overlapping portions are reduced in thickness so as to make the compound strut, formed of members 13 and 14 of substantially uniform cross section throughout. A snap-catch 17 on the member 14 engages a keeper 18 on the member 13 and locks the two members against movement on their hinge 15.

When the chair shown in Fig. 1 is to be converted into a cot the frame 9 is lowered so that its middle portion rests on the top of the support 5 and the frame 8 is lowered to the same level. To accomplish the lowering of the frame 8 the snap-catch 17 is disengaged from its keeper 18, the member 13 is swung back so that it parallels the frame 8 and the member 14 is now alone made to serve as a strut or brace for the head end of the cot in the same capacity that the support 5 serves for the foot end thereof, as-

shown in Fig. 2. Its companion member 13, on the other hand, is made to serve as a pillow support or extension to the frame 8, which elongates the top of the cot formed of the frames 8 and 9. Thus if the chair-back is made the usual height necessary to sup port the head of an ordinary person, say, about three feet, my invention with its double canvas back provides six feet of cot length exclusive of the pillow extension, which adds more than one foot to the six,

using the relative proportions shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The frames 8 and 9, which form the double back for the chair form and the single top for the cot form, are plain rectangular frames, the frame 8 being composed of two parallel members, like the one labeled 8, connected by a cross-piece 19 the ends of which are preferably mortised into the members 8 at the upper, outer or free ends of the latter. The frame 9 is identical and includes a simllar cross-piece 20. The lower ends of the par allel members 8 and 9 (referring to Fig. 1) do not require any cross-pieces such as 19 and 20 on account of their being supported on the hinge member 7 and the legs 2 wh ch carry hinge-members 7 are provlded with cross-pieces 21, and 22. The ends of the cross-piece 22 are mortised into the lower ends of the legs 2 but the cross-plece 21 is simply secured against the undersides of the legs 2, so that the cross-piece 21 shall not interfere with the folding of the legs 2 arallel with and alongside of the legs 3 as s own in Fig. 3. The distance from the pivot 4 for the legs to the cross-piece 22 is slightly more than the distance from the same pivot 4 to the forward or upper end of the eg 3, and this permits the cross-piece 22 to pass the ends of the legs 3 so that the support 5 may be folded over the legs 3 as shown in Fig. 3. The back-brace 12, composed of the members 13 and 14, is, like the frames 8 and 9 a three-sided frame composed of two parallel members 13 (one for each side of the chair) connected together by a cross-piece 23 which also supports a piece of canvas 24 for the pillow 25 to lie upon. The member 14 is composed of two parallel pieces connected by a cross piece 26 the ends 'of which are preferably mortised into the parallel bars. The cross-piece 26 has its lower edge shaped so as to fit notches 27 in the legs 3. An enlarged fragment of the companion member of the member labeled 3 in Fig. 1, is shown in Fig. 8 together with the companion member of the one labeled 14 in Fig. 1. A perspective view of the canvas 24 is shown in Fig. 6. There are no cross-pieces to interfere with the comfort of the user at any point from the cross-piece 20 to the hinges 7 and thence to cross-piece 19 covered or lowered by pillow or head-rest 25.

. of the legs 3, 3 (see Figs. 1 and 8), and, as shown, this cross-piece has also 1ts ends mortised into the legs 3. The upper ends of the legs 3 (see Figs. 1 and 7) have in lieu of the cross piece 29 a connection composed of a bar of steel or iron the ends of which are bent twice at right angles, or into crankform as shown best in Fig. 7. The object of this arrangement (which does not necessarily require a steel bar, or the exact construction herein shown) is to get the cross-bar which supports the front end of the seat-canvas, out of the way so that the canvas top of the cot will not touch it, or so that the legs of the person lying on the cot, need not lie against the bar, the object being to avoid any hard spots coming in contact with the user while lying down. When my device is arranged in the form of a chair the bar 29 is swung upward and slightly beyond the ver- I tical plane of the pivotal points 31 and 32.

Pins or stops 33 and 34 on the legs 3 engage, respectively, the crank-portions 35 and 36 of the bar 29 and thus support the latter in a raised position. Obviously the arrangement for raising and lowering the bar 29, or its equivalent for supporting the chair canvas 30, may be varied in numerous ways without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The support 5, in harmony with the con struction of the other parts of the chair, is also composed of two parallel members 5 one of which is shown in Fig. 1 and the other in Fig. 7. The two parallel members 5 are consequently also three sided frames including a cross-bar 37. The latter cross-bar is placed a sufficient distance below the tops of the two members 5 to be out of reach of the sag of the canvas under the weight of a person, and in order, therefore, to support the upper ends of the legs 3 on the frame 5 or cross-bar 37 thereof short blocks 38 are interposed between the bar 37 and the legs 3, as shown in Figs. 1 and 7. The chair canvas30 has its upper end secured to the bar 19. i The chair and cot canvas shown may also be considered as one piece of cloth.

Fig. 3 shows how compactly the parts may be folded together. The thickness of the bundle of parts shown in said figure will be only about three inches for a well built and strong chair and cot combination. As folded in Fig. 3 the support 5 is swung forwardly and the wedge-shaped tops of the blocks 38 disengaged from the notches 39 in the under sides of the upper ends of the legs 3 (Figs. 1 and 7.) The legs 2 and 3 are then swung on pivots 4 so that they overlie each other and are parallel, the support 5 is placed on top of the legs 2 and 3, the lower ends of the legs 3 are placed against the frames 8 and 9 (the extreme ends of said legs 3 swinging past the free edge 40 of the pillow canvas when the compound brace frame 12 is swung outwardly so that it lies against the frame 8) and the part 12 (composed of 13 and 14) is swung forwardly to lie against 8 and 2. It will be noticed by reference to Figs. 1 and 8 that the parallel members of the part 14 straddle the legs 3, or lie in vertical planes which are outside of the vertical plane of the legs 3. Folded in the form shown in Fig. 3 a great number of chairs may be packed in the space occupied by one ordinary deck chair and one chair alone makes a very flat package which is convenient to carry. It is to be observed that the construction does not involve bent-wood or expensive construction in any of the details.

In Fig. 1 the dotted'lines show the memleaf adapted to be tilted backward to form a shown. The members 8 and 9 may be termed leaves, 9 being the front leaf and 8 the rear leaf. The rear leaf 8 forms the head-end of the bed and the front leaf 9 the 1 foot end of the bed. The rear leaf is alone adjustable for the bed positions, while both leaves are adjustable together for the chair positions and constitute a single back or unit. As shown the canvas 24 covers only a portion of the part 16 of the support 12 so as to leave a space between the edge 40 of the canvas and the hinges 11, through which space the lower ends of the leg members 3 are passed in folding the parts together.

I claim as my invention 1. In a combination chair and bed, a folding chair provided with a back consisting of two pivoted leaves normally folded together and movable together as a single chair-back; means for supporting one of the said leaves over the chair-seat, and means for supporting the other leaf either in alinement with said first-mentioned leaf or at an angle relatively thereto; said last-mentioned means being constructed and arranged so that it serves either 'as a single chair-back-suppcrt, or as a combination bed-extension and bed support.

2. In a combination chair and bed, a folding chair provided with a double back consisting of two leaves pivotally movable together as a single adjustable back and movable apart so that one of said leaves forms an extension of the other leaf; an adjustable chair-back-support consisting of hinged mem bers constructed and arranged so that one of the members is adjustable into a pillow-support which extends the length of the bed while the other member supports the headend of the bed.

3. The combination with a folding campchair provided with a canvas seat and a double canvas back consisting of two pivotally movable leaves, the front leaf adapted to be folded over the chair-seat and the rear bed, and means for supporting the chairback and the rear of said leaves in either an inclined or anhorizontal position.

4. A folding combination chair and bed consisting of a series of frames pivoted together and arran ed to lie parallel when folded together; two of said frames being two canvas-covered leaves pivoted at the seat of the chair and normally constituting a single back, said leaves being movable apart I angularly and thereby extended into a bed in l sections composed of said leaves, means for supporting one of said leaves over the chairseat and means for increasing the length of the other leaf and the length of the bed, said me ans supporting both the chair-b ack against angular movement and likewise supporting a portion of said bed.

5. A folding combination chair and bed consisting of a series of frames pivoted together and constructed and arranged to lie parallel when folded together; two of said frames consisting of canvas-covered leaves pivoted at the seat of the chair, said leaves being movable angularly apart and adjustable into bedextensions; another pair of said frames constituting legs for the chair and bed, and the remaining frames being adjustable supports for holding the other parts of the chair and bed in their adjusted positions.

6. In a combination chair and bed, the

two connected pairs of leg-members 2 and 3 pivoted at 4; the support 5 hinged to the lower ends of leg-members 2 and adjustable to support the upper ends-of leg-members 3 the back-members or frames 8 and 9 pivoted to the upper ends of the leg-members 2, said back members or frames being normally folded together; the canvas covering 10 upon the members 8 and 9 arranged as shown; the adjustable chair-seat-support 29; the canvas 30 secured to the member 8 and to the support 29, said canvas 30, between said support 29 and the upper ends of leg-members 2, forming a chair-seat; means for supporting the back-portion 9 in a horizontal position over said chair-seat; a back-support for the member 8, adapted to hold the latter in an horizontal or inclined position and consisting of two parts one of which parts is adjustable to form a bed-extension, or pillow support, while the other part is adjustable as a support for the back-member 8; said members and parts being constructed and arranged so that the leg-members 2 will fold over and parallel the members 3, so that the support 5 may be folded over and lie against the members 2 and 3, and so that said back support may be folded forward to lie parallel with and against the members 8 and 2.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

, ROBERT OSTERBERG. l/Vitnesses:

VICTOR S. NYSTROM, Jos. VAN Knnoxnovn. 

